Photo Gallery: ATFP Gala 2013

Daily Star, letter to the editor

Dr. Ziad Asali and Dr. Hussein Ibish of ATFP (The American Task Force on Palestine) are wise in refusing to buy into the “clash of civilizations” worldview that so many Zionist ideologues and Islamists endorse.

Time and time again I have watched the cycle of incitement and spin sabotage support for Palestine.

Thus I applaud Asali and Ibish for noticing and pointing out that “In the U.S., the most vociferous proponents of the Arab and Muslim victimization narrative, those who blame the West, especially America or the white man for all the ills befalling the Arabs and Muslims, and those who most loudly advocate against the legal and societal harassment of America’s Arabs and Muslims, take full advantage, as they are entitled to, of the American system and find shelter in the comfort and security of its freedoms. The damage they do in being the loudest and most anti-American voices in the vulnerable Arab and Muslim immigrant communities, is to provide ammunition to the demagogues and profiteers of racism and peddlers of hate and fear of Arab and American Muslims, and to encourage the worst racist and chauvinistic tendencies in the U.S.”

It seems to me more people worldwide need to put more energy into remembering the basic Golden Rule and Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.

They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act toward one another in a spirit of brotherhood.